Research interestHow the potential for animal behavior is built into nervous system is a fundamental question in neuroscience. It is generally believed that animal behaviors are controlled together by nature (genes) and nurture (environment), but how these two factors jointly control animal behaviors is still poorly understood. I use male courtship behavior in D. melanogaster as a model system to study the following questions: (1) How does the doublesex gene, which is well conserved, function in the nervous system to allow male courtship in an experience-dependent manner? (2) How does social experience affect the courtship circuitry in molecular and neuronal levels? (3) How is the doublesex-and experience-dependent courtship pathway different from the innate fruitless-dependent pathway? My lab is also interested in understanding how an animal chooses one particular behavior from a range of behaviors (e.g., courtship, sleep, feeding)?